Smashing the patriarchy: the political possibilities in #MeToo and feminist political theory

The subjugation of women by the state has transcended all periods of time and international boundaries. This subjugation can be linked to patriarchal notions of the state, through which the edifice of the state has been constructed to reflect masculine interests and norms. The notion of the patriarchal state is all the more pertinent today given the important questions and issues that have arisen out of the #MeToo movement. The movement is fundamentally concerned with the intersections of sex, power and justice within the state and seeks to expose the persuasiveness of masculine power within these domains. This paper analyses whether the modern state is irredeemably masculine, even misogynist by its very nature. It will do so by examining feminist political approaches to the state, before embarking on a case study of the indoctrinated patriarchal principles within structures including the workplace and the legal system. This essay will delve deeper into practices and norms of the patriarchal system that in fact normalises sexual harassment, and utilising connotations from the #MeToo movement to argue that the state is irredeemably masculinist.